1. Field of the Invention
This present invention relates to a means of increasing the load capacity of a monopole tower and in particular, an apparatus and method for increasing the load capacity and stability of the tower to support the weight of additional communication equipment as well as the environmental forces exerted on the tower.
2. Brief Description of Prior Art
Single-pole towers, also referred to as monopole towers are used in the telecommunications industry. In particular, such towers are used to support equipment for wireless phones and other communication devices.
The increase in wireless communications has resulted in an increase of mounted communication equipment of all kinds. Not only do wireless service providers need to install equipment covering new geographic areas, competing wireless service providers need to install additional equipment covering the same or similar geographic areas. The solution to the foregoing problem is to either purchase additional land to erect new towers, or install additional equipment on existing towers. Purchasing land to install additional towers is increasingly expensive, as well as the expense associated with the construction and the maintenance of a new tower.
Towers are designed generally to support the weight of the communications equipment originally installed on the tower, as well as to withstand forces exerted on the tower by environmental factors, such as wind and ice, for example. Towers are generally not designed with sufficient stability to enable the tower to allow for the installation of additional equipment. As a result, prior art methods of increasing the stability of the tower in order to support additional equipment are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, typically reinforcing the weak area of the tower (the area where the additional equipment is to be installed) by means of a weld repair, such as an overlay of welding material. Installing the welding material can be done manually, or by using an automatic welding machine.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for an apparatus and method for increasing the load capacity and stability of a tower to enable the tower to support the weight of additional communication equipment as well as the environmental forces exerted on the tower.
As will be seen from the subsequent description, the preferred embodiments of the present invention overcome limitations of monopole tower arrangements.